Since the 1970’s, the franchising model has experienced rapid growth offering great incentives to both a global company (the franchisor) and a local company (the franchisee). It allows the franchisor to expand its successful business models rapidly and in great quantity across countries and continents and gives the franchisee the ability to expand their market where they might not have reached without the guidance and expertise of the franchisor.

Joseph Morabito, CEO and President of Paragon Global Resources, Inc., has seen the potential growth of Paragon through franchising. "The Paragon Relocation concept to support local destination services ties into building our brand around the world and expanding as quickly as we can to have Paragon business entities on the ground providing local services with the ability to sell and market global services under the Paragon banner," says Morabito.

One of the reasons Paragon has chosen to expand using the franchise model is because it allows us to extend our reach quickly around the world. Paragon’s offices in Holland and South Korea are franchises that function much the same as our company stores in Switzerland, Britain, Ireland and China.

But it’s not just about expansion.

"Paragon today is a global company. And we have determined that since we have clients all over the world, we really need to support them where they are,” said Morabito. “We go where our clients are and we look for the best means of providing services nearest to our customers so that ultimately we're in their time zone, we’re meeting their current needs around the world, and we’re expanding to meet their future needs…the franchise model is the quickest way for us to make that happen in the next 3 to 5 years."

What Paragon seeks to gain in better serving clients and customers around the world is maintaining the Paragon brand and experience around the world which can be achieved through our local stores that are already working in the customer’s host country and who already speak the local language.Obviously, technology would play a critical role in this enterprise. Having an integrated technology platform is crucial in serving expatriates living in other countries.

"There is no way that we could be the global company that we are today without an integrated technology platform. Our technology is completely integrated so we don’t have to ship files anywhere. The customer is already there in terms of technology. You can literally go into any office and access the information needed to service a customer who is based anywhere in the world. We use technology to provide better, faster service to our customers."

Morabito is proud of the company that he started in 1991. It started with 13 people in one office and has grown to include four service centers in the US with headquarters in California, an international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and locations in Holland, Hong Kong, Switzerland, South Korea, Great Britain and China.

One of the keys to Morabito’s success has been creating and solidifying lasting partnerships with the companies he calls his clients. He doesn’t just want to be the company that the client outsources to; he seeks to be the extension of the client’s human resource function.

When asked what the greatest compliment he’d ever received from a client was, Morabito replied, “One of our major clients… and probably one of the best compliments that I’ve ever received was that they had expanded dramatically around the world in the last 10 years and this Senior VP said to me that ‘they never could have achieved their mobility objectives if they had not outsourced to us.’ Paragon had become an intrical part of his company, something we always strive to do with each client. We strive to become a part of our client’s culture and of the fabric of who they really are as a company.”

Similarly, Morabito is hoping to build new lasting partnerships through the franchise concept as we bring local companies into the Paragon family.

"Our franchise companies know their local markets far better than we ever could. What we gain is that we have local people who are already working in those countries, who already speak the language, who already have client contacts. We have significant service metrics in place to make certain that we achieve the service quality that our clients and customers expect of us. Though we operate in 120 countries, our goal is to extend the Paragon brand to the top 45 industrialized countries in the world working with affiliates in the other countries where we do not have Paragon stores. In all cases, we seek to deal with all the cultures, the linguistic differences, and all of the factors necessary to successfully move families anywhere in the world."

What does the next few years hold for Paragon in this current economic climate? "We’ve lived through a lot of challenges in the last several years and sometimes there’s a zig and there’s a zag in the road but it doesn’t mean we don’t get to the end of the road. We get to the end of the road because we’re very focused, disciplined and passionate about our business," concluded Mr. Morabito.